Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
